An ignition coil for an internal combustion engine that is installed directly on an engine and that is directly coupled with spark plugs is known. However, these prior art ignition coils/spark plugs do not incorporate a pressure sensor and often are large and costly to produce. A pressure sensor mounted on a spark plug is also known as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,812 to Meyer and is incorporated herein by reference. However, hereto for, the prior art does not disclose an integrated spark plug, coil and pressure sensor.
The '812 to Meyer discloses a magnetostrictive pressure sensor device attached to a spark plug shell. However, this arrangement does not disclose a production feasible apparatus since it fails to address the important issue of packaging, signal lead routing, and suppression of engine noise pick-up. Moreover, the '812 reference does not incorporate a coil to charge the spark plug nor a means to energize the sensing winding.